Services funded by public money should be open to all, without alienating anyone.
The recent drive to contract out public services to faith groups risks undermining equal access.
Help us keep public services free from discrimination and evangelism.
The government is increasingly pushing for more publicly-funded services to be provided by religious organisations.
Many faith-based groups have carried out social service without imposing their beliefs. But religious groups taking over public service provision raises concerns regarding proselytising and discrimination.
65% of people have no confidence in church groups running crucial social provisions such as healthcare with only 2% of people expressing a lot of confidence.
Any organisations involved in delivering public services should be bound by equality law and restrictions on proselytisation.
Those advocating for faith organisations to take over more public services risk undermining these restrictions, which exist to protect both the public and third sector.
"We have concerns that some religious groups that seek to take over public services, particularly at local level, could pursue policies and practices that result in increased discrimination against marginalised groups, particularly in service provision and the employment of staff. Non-religious people and those not seen to confirm to the dominant ethos of a religious body, such as being in an unmarried relationship or divorced and being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered, could find themselves subject to discrimination."
Unitarian Church (Submission to the Parliamentary Public Administration Select Committee about the Big Society agenda)
There are also concerns about faith-based mental health and pastoral care in public institutions, including chaplaincy programmes in the NHS and the armed forces. Where such services are funded by the state, they should not be organised around religion or belief.
Religious commentators are often keen to document the contribution of religious organisations to the third sector and social activism. But they fail to demonstrate why it should be the state's role to build this capacity or why local authorities shouldn't have legitimate concerns about religious groups running services.
Take Action!
1. Write to your MP
Ask your MP to protect secular public services.
2. Share your story
Tell us why you support this campaign, and how you are personally affected by the issue. You can also let us know if you would like assistance with a particular issue.
3. Join the National Secular Society
Become a member of the National Secular Society today! Together, we can separate religion and state for greater freedom and fairness.
Latest updates
Welsh Lib Dems call for hospital chaplains to be paid by charitable trust
Posted: Fri, 19 Oct 2012 12:13
At their conference in Brecon on 13th October, Welsh Liberal Democrat delegates voted in favour of a motion calling for an end to public funding of the hospital chaplaincy service.
The motion, which was tabled by members of the Lib Dem Humanist & Secularist group, called for hospital chaplaincies to instead be funded through a charitable trust, with the £1.3million saved each year instead diverted to front-line health services. It was pointed out that the Welsh Air Ambulance service already relies on substantial charitable trust funding, and that such an arrangement for chaplaincies would allow the NHS to focus its limited resources on proven clinical interventions rather than on religious provision.
The debate was largely good-natured, measured and reasoned, with good points made on all sides. Encouragingly, at least one Lib Dem Assembly Member voted in favour of the proposal, suggesting a degree of support for secular views within the Senedd. Whilst the Welsh Labour Government has made it clear that it is not considering reforming the existing arrangements, the mathematics of the Siambr (Welsh Assembly) mean that Labour require opposition support to push through any measures. The charitable chaplaincy campaign can therefore now focus on calling for Welsh Lib Dem AMs to put forward the policy agreed by their members as part of any future negotiations over healthcare reform.
Anyone wanting to find out more about the Lib Dem Humanist & Secularist group can do so online.
Campaigner Alan Rogers said: "The Charitable Chaplaincy Campaign operates in Wales since the Assembly Government of Wales is responsible for the NHS in Wales. The campaign is an informal network of supporters."
If you wish to help and be informed of progress with this campaign, please send your email address to us and we'll keep you up to date.
Plans to tax church property in Italy thrown out
Posted: Wed, 10 Oct 2012 06:57
Italy's Council of State rejected a decree this week aimed at ending an historic tax exemption for the Catholic Church, reigniting a heated debate which is being closely followed by EU watchdogs.
In February, the Government amended Italy's property tax law to end the Church's privileges amid rising calls for the Vatican to share in debt crisis sacrifices and in the face of intense scrutiny from the European Commission.
But the Council of State, Italy's highest court for administrative litigation, said on Monday it was rejecting the decree for being "too heterogeneous" and going "beyond the competences" of a tax law.
The EU opened an investigation in 2010 into whether tax breaks enjoyed by some Church properties in Italy could be classed as illegal state aid.
Italy's Catholic Church owns around 20% of Italy's properties, worth an estomated 9bn euros. It includes shopping centres and a range of residential property. A growing number of Italians are opposed to what they see as special privileges in the face of a tightening economy.
Italy's Finance Minister Vittorio Grilli said yesterday that the Government's aim remained "to subject everyone" to the property tax, Church included.
The Italian Catholic Church pays tax on several properties it owns that are commercial enterprises but is exempt if at least some of the activities on the property are "non-commercial" – for example a chapel in a hotel.
The extra revenue from these exempt properties – including hotels, restaurants and sports centres – could be €25.5 million a year in Rome alone, reported La Repubblica a daily newspaper, citing official figures.
